Archive for April, 2011

News.me, a social news app developed by bit.ly in collaboration with the New York Times, is now available in the App Store. The free app aggregates news stories shared by Twitter users you follow in a format focused on legibility and ease of use.

bit.ly is a URL shortening service that is integrated into several sites, services, and apps. The New York Times is a somewhat surprising partner given its own recent move to erect a pay wall to restrict free access to its content as announced last month.

Since News.me focuses on news from your Twitter stream, you must have a Twitter account to use the app. Once you connect your Twitter account to News.me, you’re presented with existing News.me users you already follow and some selected News.me users to include your stream. Since the app is new, there are few users to select from so the news presented feels a little anemic at the moment. Fortunately, there’s a Big News tab that provides the most recent news from major sources like Reuters, NBC News, The Economist, and others.

News.me joins other social news apps like Flipboard and Pulse in the App Store. Unlike these apps, however, News.me is not free to use, requiring a subscription that costs $.99 per week or $34.99 per year charged to your iTunes account. There is a free 7-day trial available so you can try the app out first.

We’ll take advantage of the trial offered by News.me but our first impressions leave us favoring Flipboard instead given how it allows you to select from a much wider array of news sources.

Eye-Fi, the maker of Wi-Fi-enabled SD memory cards, has updated its iOS app to send photos and videos from a camera directly to an iPhone or iPad wirelessly. The universal Eye-Fi app was updated yesterday and is free to download from the App Store.

Previously, Eye-Fi only uploaded photos from a compatible iOS device to a computer or photo sharing site. The new Direct Mode in version 2.0.1 of the app provides much more flexibility to save, edit and share photos taken with a digital point-and-shoot or DSLR camera on the go.

Eye-Fi has created a video demonstrating how Direct Mode works:

Direct Mode will transfer media even when not connected to a Wi-Fi network. An Eye-Fi card and account are required to use the app. Eye-Fi cards can be purchased from a variety of retailers including Amazon and Apple.

As CNETpoints out, HBO, the premium cable television network owned by Time Warner Cable, will be releasing an iOS app that streams movies and the network’s own shows. HBO posted a teaser video of the upcoming HBO Go on its YouTube channel last week that highlights the app’s features and indicates a planned release date of May 2, 2011:

While we’re normally not fans of the high subscription prices of premium cable channels, subscribing to HBO to get access to content like Game of Thrones and True Blood on the go with this upcoming app is becoming a tempting proposition, particularly if the app will work while connected to a 3G data network.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has released Crackle, a universal iOS app for its online network of the same name that offers free streaming movies and TV shows. Available movies include The DaVinci Code, Spider-Man 3, House of Flying Daggers and hundreds of others plus TV show episodes of Seinfeld, Bewitched and more.

Crackle can stream video over Wi-Fi or 3G (though you’ll want to be careful about your data usage if you’re on a metered plan with your carrier, of course). Crackle is free to download and watching available content is also free though it is ad-supported.

Crackle is a free alternative to other movie streaming services like those offered by Netflixand Hulu though it doesn’t seem to offer as many recent movie releases and shows. However, we’re not one to complain at the opportunity to watch 80’s classics like The Last Dragon and Ghostbusters for free on demand with a commercial or two thrown in.

Westminster Abbey, the world-famous Gothic church in London where British royalty is crowned, announced that it will soon release a 3D guide app showcasing the church’s interior for the iPhone. Proceeds from sales of Abbey 3D, which will be priced at £2.99 (approximately US $4.85), will go to the Westminster Abbey Foundation and the Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton Charitable Gift Fund.

Laser scanning technology and 3D modeling were used to create the tour available within the app – the following demo video provides a taste of what the app will include:

Abbey 3D will provide users with some background on the upcoming Royal Wedding, scheduled to take place on the morning of April 29:

Archive pictures and potted biographies on key participants at the Royal Wedding will be on the app, as well as a cross-section birds-eye view of the Abbey showing the layout of the church. Bite-size historic facts and archive pictures of previous royal weddings will mean everyone can become something of an expert on Westminster Abbey in time for the big day.

While following royal social events is not exactly our cup of tea (see what we did there?), it’s nice to know that Westminster Abbey is thinking of those who can’t attend the upcoming royal nuptials at the historic place of worship. We’ll let you know when Abbey 3D hits the App Store and is available for purchase.

As All Things Digitalpoints out, Wired Magazine has released the digital version of its May 2011 issue for free within the Wired Magazine iPad app.

Wired also released an update to the app last week to address some bugs. Some new features also appear in the free May issue, including the ability to share articles via Facebook and Twitter and direct links to Amazon’s online store to purchase featured products.

The free issue is a result of Adobe’s sponsorship. Issues normally cost $3.99 each via in-app purchase, down from $4.99 at the app’s release last year. At this time, Wired does not offer a way to purchase a digital subscription within the app but we expect this will change soon since publishers have until June 30 to begin using Apple’s in-app subscription service that was announced in February.

Navigon, the maker of personal navigation devices and apps for multiple smartphone platforms, has released a major update for its MobileNavigator iOS apps adding augmented reality features to locate nearby points of interest as well as map updates, at-a-glance route traffic information and more.

The Reality Scanner uses the iPhone’s camera to display information on nearby businesses and points of interest with a live overlay. While this is definitely not practical to use while driving for safety reasons, it can be handy for pedestrians.

Navigon has been on the ball with delivering new features, most recently adding iPad compatibility and Zagat guides via in-app purchase in December.

In conjunction with the release of version 1.8, all MobileNavigator iOS apps are on sale and the prices of options available via in-app purchase are also reduced through April 28. For example, MobileNavigator for the USA and Canada is down to $44.99 from $59.99 and the in-app Traffic Live Feature is down to $14.99 from $19.99.

Despite Twitter’s recent declaration that 3rd-party developers should stop creating conventional clients for its wildly popular social networking service, Tapbots has released Tweetbot, a new Twitter clientfor the iPhone and iPod touch.

Tweetbot joins a crowded market for Twitter apps in the App store, competing against very capable clients like SimplyTweet, Osfoora, Echofon, Tweetdeck and even the official Twitter app. Tweetbot does bring some new features to the table, including customizable navigation elements and gestures plus the ability to use lists to create separate timelines (a feature that might just get us to actually use lists now).

Tapbots has a record of putting out some very polished and functional apps – Convertbot remains a staple on our own iPhones and Calcbot is an attractive universal calculator app that we looked at last summer.

So far, we’re really liking Tweetbot and all signs point to it becoming our new Twitter app of choice. Tweetbot is currently on sale for a special introductory price of $1.99 – if pricing of other Tapbots apps are any indication, it will likely go up to $2.99 or higher soon so grab it now if you’re looking for a Twitter app that offers some new features not present in other Twitter clients.

ABC, the New York-based television network owned by The Walt Disney Company, has released a new iPad app bringing “video books” to the iPad. ABC Video Bookstore debuted in the App Store earlier this week and provides in-depth coverage of selected news stories and events presented in both video and text.

At launch, ABC Video Bookstore offers two video books, the first covering the relationship between Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton and the second focusing on Amanda Knox, an American college student convicted of murder in Italy. Each video book costs $7.99 via in-app purchase.

The app’s description states that more video books will be added on a regular basis.

ABC Video Bookstore joins several other ABC network apps in the App Store, including one of our favorites, ABC Player, that offers on-demand streaming video of the network’s most popular shows.